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Men of Nia Weekend: Santa Fe

I got into town late on Thursday night. I ordered my pizza delivered to the room and crashed in front of the TV.

On Friday morning, I woke up after sleeping in luxuriously late. The motel here has a great system. They call the room in the morning to check if I need housekeeping service. Typically they just pound on the door, waking me up and alarming River into a short barking frenzy. They yell out through the door "HOUSEKEEPING!" And I'm required to call back to them, "NO THANKS! I"M NAKED AND SLEEPING AND DON"T NEED SERVICE TODAY!" River adds, "Bark bark bark bark!" She calls out "DO YOU NEED TOWELS?" I shout "NO THANK YOU!!" River offers, "bark bark bark bark."

So, yeah, handling it over the phone seems so much more civilized. No door pounding. No shouting. No barking.

Finally, after I was awake and had my coffee, I needed to wash some clothes. The property has no laundry facility so I got to go find one in Santa Fe. I found one in a shopping center just about a block away. River and I played in the big parking lot while the clothes spun around.

After laundry, I grabbed a burger and took it back to my room to chow down. Of course I had green chilis on it!

On Friday afternoon at 4pm, the third annual Men of Nia weekend kicked off with a jam taught by five male Nia teachers, Mark (who organized it and co-owns the studio with Kelle), David, Fred, Tony and me.

The whole weekend was jam packed with Nia dancing led by men. It was inspirational, fun, informative, emotional and exhausting. I didn't have the time or energy to blog about it each day, and I don't feel like going back now and replaying every detail, so I'm just going to post a few pictures.

David, Fred, Mark, JAG & Tony

River stayed quietly in his cage without making a peep all weekend. With two exceptions: Once, when a girl went up to his cage to look in at him and the other time was when a woman was running in a circle through the empty studio.There is a lobby/reception area where everyone hangs out before and after classes, and I leave River in his cage on the dance floor. Usually he's quiet while we socialize and eat snacks, but the woman running revved him up. In both cases, when the person stopped doing what they were doing, he stopped reacting.I only have one more class to teach on this epic road trip. River and I are excited beyond words to be headed home this week!

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